Officials hope new fiber-optic infrastructure will lure business to Hillsdale

Comment

By Matt Durr

Hillsdale.net - Hillsdale, MI

By Matt Durr

Posted Jan. 18, 2013 at 8:33 AM

By Matt Durr
Posted Jan. 18, 2013 at 8:33 AM

Hillsdale, Mich.

matt.durr@hillsdale.net

HILLSDALE — Residents and businesses of Hillsdale County will soon have access to faster Internet capability thanks to the completion of fiber-optic infrastructure installation that stretches from Monroe to Traverse City.

Merit Network Inc. announced Thursday the completion of the Round I milage in Hillsdale as part of the REACH-3MC Broadband Stimulus Project.

The “Light Up” dedication ceremony was held at the Hillsdale City Library to commemorate the project's initial completion.

“This is a real milestone, not only for Hillsdale County and the Hillsdale area, but also the state of Michigan,” said Bob Stovall, vice president of network engineering and operations for Merit. “This community has already started down that path and can be a showcase for not only thes rest of the state, but the rest of the country.”

The fiber-optic infrastructure will allow for local Internet Service Providers (ISP) to offer high-speed Internet to businesses, homes and other agencies at a much lower rate than currently offered, while increasing bandwidth size.

City of Hillsdale Director of Economic Development Mary Wolfram said the network capabilities will draw people and businesses to the Hillsdale area. She mentioned the story of how William Cook, a Hillsdale resident, made his fortune in the 1890s in the field of telegraph and communication industry.

“We want lots more people making their fortune right here in Hillsdale in the telecommunications industry,” Wolfram said. “We are in a key position now to start again. We here in Hillsdale are in the position to host high-tech businesses, data centers and telecommuters who want to work in a high-tech business but live in a great, safe community.”

Eric Macy, information technology representative for the Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities, said the network will be able to help Hillsdale host data for large businesses located outside of the area. This serves as a benefit for those businesses because if a disaster were to occur at their business location, their data would not be affected.

“It’s built that road and it’s going to allow for businesses to operate in the Hillsdale community, whether that’s specifically in Hillsdale or in Jonesville or somewhere along this route,” Macy said. “Come to find out, being isolated is a good thing for a data center. We’ve always talked about how bad that is for Hillsdale to be isolated in the world. Those are actually great attributes to have to locate your data center.”

As far helping citizens get better access to the Internet, the ISPs now have a backbone to allow for them to reach areas that were previously inaccessible at an affordable rate. A representative for TC3net in Adrian said they will slowly be able to offer access to business and then to residents. They hope to start this process by the summer.

Page 2 of 2 - Congressman Tim Walberg was on hand for the ceremony and empathized with residents yearning for better service.

“I live in the suburbs of Tipton and the best capabilities in my home are MiFi. We’ve gone through all the processes to try and get some speed to find what’s going on in the world,” Walberg said. “It’s an exciting thing to know that we have that capability now. I can’t live without that. So for Hillsdale and the surrounding communities to have those capabilities ... I think that’s huge.

“Now if i could just get hooked up to my own home,” he added.

The project was funded through $103 million in federal grants through a program funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. During the course of the project, 2,287 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure was installed in rural and underserved areas throughout the state. Groundbreaking for the project began in December 2010.

Merit is a nonprofit organization that is governed by public universities in the state of Michigan. It started in 1966 as a shared resource for networking assistance between the universities. Based out of Ann Arbor, Merit is the state’s largest IP network.